Directed route load/store packets for distributed switch initialization

ABSTRACT

Techniques for transmitting a packet from a source switch module to a destination switch module. Embodiments retrieve path information specifying a route to the destination switch module. A packet is created that includes (i) at least a portion of the path information and (ii) a set of load/store operations to be executed by the destination switch module. Embodiments then transmit the packet to a first switch module using a first port, the first port specified in the retrieved path information. The first switch module is configured to transmit the packet based on the at least a portion of the path information in the packet, and the destination switch module is configured, upon receiving the packet, to copy the set of load/store operations into an execution buffer to be automatically executed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/835,220, filed Mar. 15, 2013. The aforementioned relatedpatent application is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The present invention relates to computer networking, and morespecifically, to techniques for transmitting a bidirectional messagewithin a distributed switch module.

Computer systems often use multiple computers that are coupled togetherin a common chassis. The computers may be separate servers that arecoupled by a common backbone within the chassis. Each server may be apluggable board that includes at least one processor, an on-boardmemory, and an Input/Output (I/O) interface. Further, the servers may beconnected to a switch to expand the capabilities of the servers. Forexample, the switch may permit the servers to access additional Ethernetnetworks or PCIe slots, as well as permit communication between serversin the same or different chassis.

Additionally, the switch itself may be a distributed system. Forexample, the distributed switch may include a plurality of switchmodules and one or more control modules. Generally, the switch modulesmay each include a respective set of ports and could be configured toact as independent sub-switches. The control module(s) could providecontrol plane logic for the plurality of switch modules, and the controlmodule(s) may be shared by the plurality of switch modules. Oneadvantage to such a distributed switch is that distributed systems canoftentimes grow larger than conventional systems at less cost.Additionally, distributed systems are frequently more modular thenconventional systems, allowing faulty, individual components to beisolated and replaced in a more efficient and inexpensive fashion.

SUMMARY

Embodiments provide a method, computer-readable storage medium andsystem for transmitting a packet from a source switch module to adestination switch module. The method, computer-readable storage mediumand system include retrieving path information specifying a route to thedestination switch module. The method, computer-readable storage mediumand system also include creating a packet that includes (i) at least aportion of the path information and (ii) a set of load/store operationsto be executed by the destination switch module. Additionally, themethod, computer-readable storage medium and system include transmittingthe packet to a first switch module using a first port, the first portspecified in the retrieved path information, wherein the first switchmodule is configured to transmit the packet based on the at least aportion of the path information in the packet, and wherein thedestination switch module is configured, upon receiving the packet, tocopy the set of load/store operations into an execution buffer to beautomatically executed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system architecture that includes a distributed,virtual switch, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates the hardware representation of a system thatimplements a distributed, virtual switch, according to one embodimentdescribed herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates a distributed, virtual switch, according to oneembodiment described herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates a distributed, virtual switch, according to oneembodiment described herein.

FIG. 5 illustrates a distributed, virtual switch configured with amanagement packet component, according to one embodiment describedherein.

FIG. 6 illustrates a packet containing route data and a set ofload/store operations, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow of a packet through a series of switchmodules, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow of a packet through a series of switchmodules, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for generating amanagement packet, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for transmitting amanagement packet to a destination node, according to one embodimentdescribed herein.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for transmitting amanagement packet to a source node, according to one embodimentdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, a distributed, virtual switch may include a plurality ofswitch modules, each of which contains a set of ports and logic todirect traffic between the ports. The distributed switch may alsoinclude one or more control modules (also referred to herein as a“switch management controller”), which provide control plane logic forthe plurality of switch modules and are shared by the plurality ofswitch modules. Doing so can allow distributed switches to scale tolarger sizes for less cost than conventional switches.

In some circumstances, it may be desirable for a controller to directthe actions of individual switch modules within a distributed switch. Asan example, a controller could direct a switch module's actions in orderto configure the communication links of the switch module. However,before the links of the switch module within the distributed switch areconfigured, the controller may be unable to communicate with the switchmodule using Ethernet communications. In such a situation, anadministrator may be required to directly connect to the switch modulein order to configure the links of the switch module manually.

As such, embodiments provide techniques for transmitting a managementpacket from a source switch module to a destination switch module. Here,a payload of the management packet may include a set of load/storeoperations which are to be executed by the destination switch module.For example, a controller could transmit a management packet to aparticular switch module within the distributed switch, which contains aset of load/store operations which, when executed, are configured toconfigure the links of the switch module. Generally, the controller andthe switch modules can be configured to transmit the packet usingswitch-to-switch communications links between the switches. For example,the packet could be transmitted using inter-switch communication linksthat are also used for transmitting Ethernet traffic within thedistributed switch, but could be transmitted using a communicationsmodel that is separate and distinct from the Open SystemsInterconnection (OSI) model. This allows embodiments to communicatewithin the distributed switch, before OSI communications (e.g., logic ona switch module to process layer 2 network traffic) are active.

The controller could retrieve path information specifying a route fromthe controller through the distributed switch to the destination switchmodule. The controller could then create a packet that includes at leasta portion of the path information. For example, the packet could includea list of link IDs that are used to transmit the packet from thecontroller to the destination switch module. As an example, the createdpacket could contain the ports “5, 2, 3”, indicating that the controllerwill transmit the packet to a first switch module using the controller'slink with link ID “5”, the first switch module will transmit the packetto a second switch module using the first switch module's link with linkID “2”, and the second switch module will transmit the packet to thedestination switch module using the second switch module's link withlink ID “3”. In one embodiment, the created packet does not contain alink ID associated with the path between the controller and the secondswitch module. For example, the controller could be configured to insertthe packet into a buffer within the second switch module using PCIecommunications, the buffer associated with a directed route load store(DRLS) component (discussed in more detail below).

Additionally, the created packet could contain a set of load/storeoperations to be executed by the destination switch module. As discussedabove, the set of load/store operations could be a set of operationswhich, when executed, are configured to configure the Ethernetcommunication links of the destination switch module. The created packetis then transmit to another switch module within the distributed switch.Here, the packet could be transmitted using a link on the controllerunit that is determined based on the retrieved path information. Forexample, the path information could specify that the packet should betransmitted using the controller's link having link ID “5”.

The packet could then be received by an intermediary switch modulewithin the distributed switch. Generally, an “intermediary switchmodule” refers to any switch module within the distributed switch alonga particular path between a source (e.g., the controller) and adestination switch module. Upon receiving the packet, logic on theintermediary switch module could determine an identifier (e.g., a linkID) of the link of the intermediary switch module on which the packetwas received. The logic could then insert the determined identifier intothe packet, for use in transmitting an acknowledgement message back tothe source (e.g., the controller) once the set of load/store operationshave been executed by the destination switch module.

For instance, as the packet passes through the intermediary switchmodule(s) towards the destination switch module, each intermediaryswitch module could insert a respective link identifier into the packet.Once the destination switch module has received the packet and executedthe set of load/store operations, the packet could then be passed backthrough the intermediary switch modules to the source (e.g., thecontroller). Each intermediary switch module could then use the linkidentifier that the intermediary switch module previously inserted intothe packet to select which link to transmit the packet on. Thus, forexample, if an intermediary switch module initially received the packeton its link having a link ID of “3”, the intermediary switch modulecould then transmit the acknowledgement message back to the source usingthe link having a link ID of “3”.

Once the link identifier is inserted into the packet, the intermediaryswitch module accesses the path information within the packet thatspecifies the route to the destination switch module. The intermediaryswitch module could then use the path information to determine how totransmit the packet towards the destination switch module. For instance,the path information could include a list of link identifiers to be usedin transmitting the packet to the destination switch module. As anexample, assume that the packet contains path information specifying thelink IDs “5, 2, 3”. The intermediary switch module could then determinewhich of these links to use, and could then forward the packet on thecorresponding link. For example, the path information could also includea switch ID field, which is incremented each time the packet isforwarded to a switch module. In such an embodiment, the switch ID fieldcould be used as an index to the list of link IDs to determine whichlink the current switch module should use. For example, if theintermediary switch module determines the switch ID is “1”, theintermediary switch module could use this value as in index to the setof link IDs and could determine that link “2” should be used to forwardthe packet on towards the destination switch module. The intermediaryswitch module could then transmit the packet on the determined link.

Generally speaking, the packet may go through any number of intermediaryswitch modules before ultimately reaching the destination switch module.The destination switch module, upon receiving the packet, could copy theset of load/store operations within the packet into an execution bufferon the destination switch module. The execution buffer generally refersto some area of memory on a switch module (or accessible by the switchmodule) that is configured to store one or more load/store operationsfor execution. For example, the execution buffer could be an arrayobject on the switch module and logic on the switch module could beconfigured to monitor the array to determine when load/store operationsare copied into the array for execution. Upon detecting one or moreload/store operations within the array, the logic could automaticallyexecute the load/store operations (e.g., in an order based on the orderthe load/store operations are stored in the array).

Once the load/store operations are executed, the destination switchmodule could transmit an acknowledgement message back to the source,using the link information inserted into the packet by the intermediaryswitch modules. In one embodiment, the packet itself is transmitted backto the source as the acknowledgement message. Upon receiving theacknowledgement message, the source could conclude that the packet wassuccessfully received by the destination switch module and that the setof load/store operations within the packet were successfully executed bythe destination switch module. Advantageously, doing so provides atechnique through which a controller can transmit a set of load/storeoperations to any switch module within the switch fabric to direct theswitch module's actions. Additionally, as the management packet can betransmitted over the Ethernet communication links (or more generally,using switch-to-switch communication links of any form within thedistributed switch) between the switches using a separate communicationsformat from OSI network communications, the controller can transmit suchmanagement packets regardless of the state of the switching logic forprocessing OSI network communications on the Ethernet communicationlinks. This may be particularly advantageous, for instance, when OSInetwork communication over the Ethernet links between the switch modulesare unavailable (e.g., when first configuring the logic to handle layer2 traffic on the Ethernet communication links).

These techniques for transmitting a management packet to a remote switchmodule are discussed in more detail in Section II below. However,Section I first describes an exemplary environment in which embodimentsmay be implemented. Of note, while embodiments may be implemented in thedistributed switch environment described in Section I, such anenvironment is provided for illustrative purpose only and withoutlimitation. Moreover, it is broadly contemplated that embodiments mayimplemented in any switch or network environment, consistent with thefunctionality described herein.

I. Distributed Switch Infrastructure

A distributed, virtual switch may appear as a single switch element to acomputing system (e.g., a server) connected to the distributed switch.In reality, the distributed switch may include a plurality of differentswitch modules that are interconnected via a switching layer such thateach of the switch modules may communicate with any other of the switchmodules. For example, a computing system may be physically connected toa port of one switch module but, using the switching layer, is capableof communicating with a different switch module that has a portconnected to a WAN (e.g., the Internet). Moreover, each of the switchmodules may be configured to accept and route data based on twodifferent communication protocols. To the computing system, however, thetwo separate switch modules appear to be one single switch.

The distributed switch may include a plurality of chips (i.e.,sub-switches) on each switch module. These sub-switches may receive amulticast data frame (e.g., an Ethernet frame) that designates aplurality of different destination sub-switches. The sub-switch thatreceives the data frame is responsible for creating copies of a portionof the frame, such as the frame's payload, and forwarding that portionto the respective destination sub-switches using the fabric of thedistributed switch. However, instead of simply using one egressconnection interface to forward the copies of the data frame to each ofthe destinations sequentially, the sub-switch may use a plurality ofconnection interfaces to transfer copies of the data frame in parallel.For example, a sub-switch may have a plurality of Tx/Rx ports that areeach associated with a connection interface that provides connectivityto the other sub-switches in the distributed switch. The port thatreceives the multicast data frame can borrow the connection interfaces(and associated hardware) assigned to these other ports to transmitcopies of the multicast data frame in parallel.

In addition, these sub-switches may be arranged in a hierarchicalstructure where one or more sub-switches are selected to act assurrogates. The sub-switches of the distributed switch are groupedtogether where each group is assigned to one or more of the surrogates.When a sub-switch receives a multicast data frame, it forwards thepacket to one of the surrogate sub-switches. Each surrogate sub-switchmay then forward the packet to another surrogate or to a destinationsub-switch. Because the surrogates may also transmit the packets inparallel using two or more connection interfaces, the bandwidth used toforward the multicast packet increases for each surrogate used.

Further, the surrogate hierarchy may be configured to be compatible withlink aggregation where multiple physical connections are groupedtogether to create an aggregated (logical) link. Link aggregationrequires similar data frames to use the same data path when traversingthe distributed switch. With a unicast data frame, the sub-switch thatreceives the data frame typically identifies the destination port (basedon a hash key) and forwards the data frame to the sub-switch with thatport. However, with multicast data frames, it may be impossible to storeinformation about every port in the distributed switch on eachsub-switch. Instead, the sub-switch that receives the multicast dataframe may not identify the destination port but instead forward themulticast data according to the hierarchy.

In one embodiment, the multicast data is forwarded to at least twosub-switches that each have at least one local port that belongs to thesame aggregated link. Because the Link Aggregation Protocol permits onlyone of these local ports to be the selected port, each sub-switchperforms link selection using the same hash value to determine if itslocal port is the selected port. If the local port is the selected port,the sub-switch transmits the multicast data frame using the selectedport. If not, the sub-switch disregards the multicast data.

In another embodiment, only one port is enabled for each aggregated linkin a multicast group. The multicast data traverses the surrogatehierarchy until it reaches the sub-switch with the enabled port. Thesub-switch then performs link selection to determine which of the portsin the trunk is the selected port. If the selected port is the localenabled port on the sub-switch, then the sub-switch uses that port totransmit the multicast data. If not, the sub-switch determines whichport in the aggregated link is the selected port and forwards themulticast data to the sub-switch that contains the selected port.

In another embodiment, link selection is never performed. Like in theprevious embodiment, in this embodiment, only one port is enabled foreach aggregated link in a multicast group. The multicast data traversesthe surrogate hierarchy until it reaches the sub-switch with the enabledport. However, the sub-switch never uses the hash value to determinewhich of the ports in the aggregated link is the selected port. Instead,all the multicast traffic for that aggregated link in the MC group istransmitted through the enabled port rather than being dispersed acrossthe different ports of the aggregated link based on the hash key.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system architecture that includes a distributedvirtual switch, according to one embodiment described herein. The firstserver 105 may include at least one processor 109 coupled to a memory110. The processor 109 may represent one or more processors (e.g.,microprocessors) or multi-core processors. The memory 110 may representrandom access memory (RAM) devices comprising the main storage of theserver 105, as well as supplemental levels of memory, e.g., cachememories, non-volatile or backup memories (e.g., programmable or flashmemories), read-only memories, and the like. In addition, the memory 110may be considered to include memory storage physically located in theserver 105 or on another computing device coupled to the server 105.

The server 105 may operate under the control of an operating system 107and may execute various computer software applications, components,programs, objects, modules, and data structures, such as virtualmachines 111. The server 105 may include network adapters 115 (e.g.,converged network adapters). A converged network adapter may includesingle root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) adapters such as a PeripheralComponent Interconnect Express (PCIe) adapter that supports ConvergedEnhanced Ethernet (CEE). Another embodiment of the system 100 mayinclude a multi-root I/O virtualization (MR-IOV) adapter. The networkadapters 115 may further be used to implement of Fiber Channel overEthernet (FCoE) protocol, RDMA over Ethernet, Internet small computersystem interface (iSCSI), and the like. In general, a network adapter115 transfers data using an Ethernet or PCI based communication methodand may be coupled to one or more of the virtual machines 111.Additionally, the adapters may facilitate shared access between thevirtual machines 111. While the adapters 115 are shown as being includedwithin the server 105, in other embodiments, the adapters may bephysically distinct devices that are separate from the server 105.

In one embodiment, each network adapter 115 may include a convergedadapter virtual bridge (not shown) that facilitates data transferbetween the adapters 115 by coordinating access to the virtual machines111. Each converged adapter virtual bridge may recognize data flowingwithin its domain (i.e., addressable space). A recognized domain addressmay be routed directly without transmitting the data outside of thedomain of the particular converged adapter virtual bridge.

Each network adapter 115 may include one or more Ethernet ports thatcouple to one of the bridge elements 120. Additionally, to facilitatePCIe communication, the server may have a PCI Host Bridge 117. The PCIHost Bridge 117 would then connect to an upstream PCI port 122 on aswitch element in the distributed switch 180. The data is then routedvia the switching layer 130 to the correct downstream PCI port 123 whichmay be located on the same or different switch module as the upstreamPCI port 122. The data may then be forwarded to the PCI device 150.

The bridge elements 120 may be configured to forward data framesthroughout the distributed virtual switch 180. For example, a networkadapter 115 and bridge element 120 may be connected using two 40 GbitEthernet connections or one 100 Gbit Ethernet connection. The bridgeelements 120 forward the data frames received by the network adapter 115to the switching layer 130. The bridge elements 120 may include a lookuptable that stores address data used to forward the received data frames.For example, the bridge elements 120 may compare address data associatedwith a received data frame to the address data stored within the lookuptable. Thus, the network adapters 115 do not need to know the networktopology of the distributed switch 180.

The distributed virtual switch 180, in general, includes a plurality ofbridge elements 120 that may be located on a plurality of a separate,though interconnected, hardware components. To the perspective of thenetwork adapters 115, the switch 180 acts like one single switch eventhough the switch 180 may be composed of multiple switches that arephysically located on different components. Distributing the switch 180provides redundancy in case of failure.

Each of the bridge elements 120 may be connected to one or moretransport layer modules 125 that translate received data frames to theprotocol used by the switching layer 130. For example, the transportlayer modules 125 may translate data received using either an Ethernetor PCI communication method to a generic data type (i.e., a cell) thatis transmitted via the switching layer 130 (i.e., a cell fabric). Thus,the switch modules comprising the switch 180 are compatible with atleast two different communication protocols—e.g., the Ethernet and PCIecommunication standards. That is, at least one switch module has thenecessary logic to transfer different types of data on the sameswitching layer 130.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, in one embodiment, the switching layer 130may comprise a local rack interconnect with dedicated connections whichconnect bridge elements 120 located within the same chassis and rack, aswell as links for connecting to bridge elements 120 in other chassis andracks.

After routing the cells, the switching layer 130 may communicate withtransport layer modules 126 that translate the cells back to data framesthat correspond to their respective communication protocols. A portionof the bridge elements 120 may facilitate communication with an Ethernetnetwork 155 which provides access to a LAN or WAN (e.g., the Internet).Moreover, PCI data may be routed to a downstream PCI port 123 thatconnects to a PCIe device 150. The PCIe device 150 may be a passivebackplane interconnect, as an expansion card interface for add-inboards, or common storage that can be accessed by any of the serversconnected to the switch 180.

Although “upstream” and “downstream” are used to describe the PCI ports,this is only used to illustrate one possible data flow. For example, thedownstream PCI port 123 may in one embodiment transmit data from theconnected to the PCIe device 150 to the upstream PCI port 122. Thus, thePCI ports 122, 123 may both transmit as well as receive data.

A second server 106 may include a processor 109 connected to anoperating system 107 and memory 110 which includes one or more virtualmachines 111 similar to those found in the first server 105. The memory110 of server 106 also includes a hypervisor 113 with a virtual bridge114. The hypervisor 113 manages data shared between different virtualmachines 111. Specifically, the virtual bridge 114 allows directcommunication between connected virtual machines 111 rather thanrequiring the virtual machines 111 to use the bridge elements 120 orswitching layer 130 to transmit data to other virtual machines 111communicatively coupled to the hypervisor 113.

An Input/Output Management Controller (IOMC) 140 (i.e., aspecial-purpose processor) is coupled to at least one bridge element 120or upstream PCI port 122 which provides the IOMC 140 with access to theswitching layer 130. One function of the IOMC 140 may be to receivecommands from an administrator to configure the different hardwareelements of the distributed virtual switch 180. In one embodiment, thesecommands may be received from a separate switching network from theswitching layer 130.

Although one IOMC 140 is shown, the system 100 may include a pluralityof IOMCs 140. In one embodiment, these IOMCs 140 may be arranged in ahierarchy such that one IOMC 140 is chosen as a master while the othersare delegated as members (or slaves).

FIG. 2 illustrates a hardware level diagram of the system 100, accordingto one embodiment. Server 210 and 212 may be physically located in thesame chassis 205; however, the chassis 205 may include any number ofservers. The chassis 205 also includes a plurality of switch modules250, 251 that include one or more sub-switches 254 (i.e., a microchip).In one embodiment, the switch modules 250, 251, 252 are hardwarecomponents (e.g., PCB boards, FPGA boards, etc.) that provide physicalsupport and connectivity between the network adapters 115 and the bridgeelements 120. In general, the switch modules 250, 251, 252 includehardware that connects different chassis 205, 207 and servers 210, 212,214 in the system 200 and may be a single, replaceable part in thecomputing system.

The switch modules 250, 251, 252 (e.g., a chassis interconnect element)include one or more sub-switches 254 and an IOMC 255, 256, 257. Thesub-switches 254 may include a logical or physical grouping of bridgeelements 120—e.g., each sub-switch 254 may have five bridge elements120. Each bridge element 120 may be physically connected to the servers210, 212. For example, a bridge element 120 may route data sent usingeither Ethernet or PCI communication protocols to other bridge elements120 attached to the switching layer 130 using the routing layer.However, in one embodiment, the bridge element 120 may not be needed toprovide connectivity from the network adapter 115 to the switching layer130 for PCI or PCIe communications.

Each switch module 250, 251, 252 includes an IOMC 255, 256, 257 formanaging and configuring the different hardware resources in the system200. In one embodiment, the respective IOMC for each switch module 250,251, 252 may be responsible for configuring the hardware resources onthe particular switch module. However, because the switch modules areinterconnected using the switching layer 130, an IOMC on one switchmodule may manage hardware resources on a different switch module. Asdiscussed above, the IOMCs 255, 256, 257 are attached to at least onesub-switch 254 (or bridge element 120) in each switch module 250, 251,252 which enables each IOMC to route commands on the switching layer130. For clarity, these connections for IOMCs 256 and 257 have beenomitted. Moreover, switch modules 251, 252 may include multiplesub-switches 254.

The dotted line in chassis 205 defines the midplane 220 between theservers 210, 212 and the switch modules 250, 251. That is, the midplane220 includes the data paths (e.g., conductive wires or traces) thattransmit data between the network adapters 115 and the sub-switches 254.

Each bridge element 120 connects to the switching layer 130 via therouting layer. In addition, a bridge element 120 may also connect to anetwork adapter 115 or an uplink. As used herein, an uplink port of abridge element 120 provides a service that expands the connectivity orcapabilities of the system 200. As shown in chassis 207, one bridgeelement 120 includes a connection to an Ethernet or PCI connector 260.For Ethernet communication, the connector 260 may provide the system 200with access to a LAN or WAN (e.g., the Internet). Alternatively, theport connector 260 may connect the system to a PCIe expansion slot—e.g.,PCIe device 150. The device 150 may be additional storage or memorywhich each server 210, 212, 214 may access via the switching layer 130.Advantageously, the system 200 provides access to a switching layer 130that has network devices that are compatible with at least two differentcommunication methods.

As shown, a server 210, 212, 214 may have a plurality of networkadapters 115. This provides redundancy if one of these adapters 115fails. Additionally, each adapter 115 may be attached via the midplane220 to a different switch module 250, 251, 252. As illustrated, oneadapter of server 210 is communicatively coupled to a bridge element 120located in switch module 250 while the other adapter is connected to abridge element 120 in switch module 251. If one of the switch modules250, 251 fails, the server 210 is still able to access the switchinglayer 130 via the other switching module. The failed switch module maythen be replaced (e.g., hot-swapped) which causes the IOMCs 255, 256,257 and bridge elements 120 to update the routing tables and lookuptables to include the hardware elements on the new switching module.

FIG. 3 illustrates a virtual switching layer, according to oneembodiment described herein. As shown in the system 300, each sub-switch254 in the systems 100 and 200 is connected to the other sub-switches254 using the switching layer 130 via a mesh connection schema. That is,no matter the sub-switch 254 used, a cell (i.e., data packet) can berouted to another other sub-switch 254 located on any other switchmodule 250, 251, 252. This may be accomplished by directly connectingeach of the bridge elements 120 of the sub-switches 254—i.e., eachbridge element 120 has a dedicated data path to every other bridgeelement 120.

Alternatively, the switching layer 130 may use a spine-leaf architecturewhere each sub-switch 254 (i.e., a leaf node) is attached to at leastone spine node. The spine nodes route cells received from the sub-switch254 to the correct spine node which then forwards the data to thecorrect sub-switch 254. An example of this configuration is shown inFIG. 4, which illustrates a distributed, virtual switch, according toone embodiment described herein. Generally, the sub-switches 254 _(1-N)may reside in one or more switch modules (e.g., switch modules 250, 251,252). As shown in the system 400, each of the sub-switches 254 _(1-N) isconnected to each of the spine switch modules 410 _(1-N) using therespective set of ports 410 _(1-N). Thus, each of the sub-switches 254_(1-N) could communicate with each of the other sub-switches 254 _(1-N)via a spine-leaf connection schema. Additionally, although the system400 illustrates a two-level spine-leaf configuration, otherconfigurations could additional hierarchical levels of spine switchmodules. For instance, a third level of spine switch modules could beprovided above the depicted spine switch modules 410 _(1-N), and thedepicted spine switch modules 410 _(1-N) could communicate with oneanother using the third level of spine switch modules.

Advantageously, increasing the number of hierarchical levels employed inthe spine-leaf configuration allows the distributed switch to scale tolarger sizes, without requiring individual switch modules (e.g.,sub-switches 254 _(1-N) and spine switch modules 410 _(1-N)) to have anincreased number of ports. Such configurations may result in arelatively low cost distributed switch solution that includes a largequantity of inexpensive, low-port switch modules. However, such examplesare without limitation and are provided for illustrative purposes only.Moreover, embodiments are not limited to any particular technique forinterconnecting the sub-switches 254.

II. Event-Based Execution Buffer Management

As discussed above, embodiments provide techniques for reacting toevents in a switch module. FIG. 5 illustrates a distributed, virtualswitch configured with a DRLS component, according to one embodimentdescribed herein. As an initial note, although the system 500illustrates a spine-leaf configuration for the distributed switch, asdiscussed above other configurations may be employed (e.g., the meshconnection schema in the system 300).

As shown, the system 500 includes sub-switch modules 254 ₁₋₂ and a spineswitch module 410. The system 500 also includes an IOMC 257communicatively coupled to the sub-switch 254 ₁. As discussed above, theIOMC 257 generally provides the control plane logic for each of theswitch modules 254 ₁₋₂ and 410. Additionally, each of the switch modules254 ₁₋₂ and 410 contains a respective set of ports 530 ₁₋₃, adirected-route load/store (DRLS) component 510 ₁₋₃, and a managementpacket component 520 ₁₋₃. Additionally, each of the DRLS components 510₁₋₃ contains an execution buffer 515 ₁₋₃. As discussed above, each ofthe DRLS components 510 ₁₋₃ may be configured to detect when operationsare written to their respective execution buffer 515 ₁₋₃ (e.g., using aDRLS master sequencer and one or more sub-sequencers) and, upondetecting the respective execution buffer 515 ₁₋₃ contains load/storeoperations, to execute the contents of the respective execution buffer515 ₁₋₃.

Generally, the load/store operations can, when executed, perform avariety of different operations on the respective switch module. Forinstance, each of the switch modules 254 ₁₋₂ and 410 could contain arespective set of status registers, with each of the status registersindicative of a status of a respective one of a plurality of externalEthernet ports. As an example, a status register could contain a valueof “0” if the respective port is disable and a value of “1” is therespective port is enabled. In such an embodiment, a set of predefinedload/store operations 525 could be adapted to disable all of theexternal Ethernet ports on the switch module by loading a value of “0”into each of the status registers on the switch module. More generally,however, it is broadly contemplated that the load/store operations mayperform any operation on the switch module that is achievable usingload/store operations.

Additionally, the IOMC 257 in the depicted embodiment is configured witha data packet control component 540. As discussed above, the data packetcontrol component 540 could be configured to generate a managementpacket containing path information to a destination switch module, aswell as a set of load/store operations for execution. For example, thedata packet control component 540 could generate a management packetdestined for the sub-switch module 254 ₂, and containing a set ofload/store operations that, when executed, are configured to configureand initialize the Ethernet communication ports 530 ₃ on the sub-switch254 ₂.

In one embodiment, the sub-switches 254 ₁₋₂ and the spine switch module410 are interconnected using switch-to-switch communications links. Insuch an embodiment, the data packet control component 540 could beconfigured to specify the path information in the management packetusing a listing of link IDs, corresponding to particular Ethernet linkson each switch module along the path. For example, assume that the pathinformation specifies the listing of “3, 2”, and further includes acounter value initiated at “0”. The IOMC 257 could transmit themanagement packet over its switch-to-switch link to the sub-switch 254₁. The management packet component 520 ₁ could then analyze the receivedmanagement packet and could access the listing of link IDs using thecounter value as an index, thereby retrieving the value “3” from thelisting using the index position “0”. The management packet component520 ₁ could then increment the counter value to “1”. Advantageously,doing so enables each switch module (e.g., the sub-switches 254 ₁₋₂ andthe spine switch module 410) to access the appropriate link ID from thepath information. Of course, this example is provided without limitationand for illustrative purposes only, and one of ordinary skill in the artwill quickly recognize that any number of other implementations could beemployed, consistent with the present disclosure.

Additionally, the management packet component 520 ₁ could determine alink ID of the link of the switch-to-switch communications network onwhich the sub-switch 254 ₁ received the management packet. For purposesof this example, assume that the management packet component 520 ₁determines that the management packet was received on a link having thelink ID “7”. The management packet component 520 ₁ could then insert thelink ID into the management packet as a return link value. By insertingthe return link values into the management packet at each switch modulebetween the source (e.g., the IOMC 257) and the destination (e.g., thesub-switch 254 ₂), embodiments provide the destination switch module(e.g., the sub-switch 254 ₂) with the return path information fortransmitting an acknowledgement message back to the source (e.g., theIOMC 257).

Additionally, the management packet component 520 ₁ could be configuredto update a second counter value within the management packet. Forexample, the second counter value could be initialized to a value of “0”when the IOMC 257 creates the management packet, and each switch module(e.g., the sub-switches 254 ₁₋₂ and the spine switch module 410) thatinserts a return link value into the management packet could incrementthis second counter value. Advantageously, doing so preserves therelationship between each switch module along the path from the sourcemodule to the destination module. Of course, such an example is providedfor illustrative purposes only and without limitation. Moreover, it isbroadly contemplated that any number of different techniques formaintaining return path information can be employed, consistent withembodiments described herein.

Once the return link value is inserted into the management packet, themanagement packet component 520 ₁ could forward the management packet tothe spine switch module 410 over its link having the link ID of “3”, inaccordance with the information within the management packet. Of note,although only the switch modules along the path of the management packet(e.g., the switch modules 254 ₁₋₂ and the spine switch module 410) areshown in the system 500, such a depiction is for illustrative purposesonly. More generally, each of the switch modules within a distributedswitch may have any number of links over the switch-to-switchcommunications network, with each of the links corresponding to adifferent switch module within distributed switch (as well as Ethernetlinks to external devices). As such, a message forwarded over a firstone of the links could be received by a particular switch module withinthe distributed switch, while the same message forwarded over adifferent link could be received by a different switch module within thedistributed switch. Thus, by specifying a listing of link IDs in thepacket, embodiments can effectively control the path the managementpacket takes through the switch module.

Upon receiving the packet, the management packet component 520 ₂ couldinsert a return link value into the packet, based on the link of thespine switch module 410 on which the packet was received. Additionally,the management packet component 520 ₂ could determine that the spineswitch module 410 is not the destination for the packet. Accordingly,the management packet component 520 ₂ could access the path informationwithin the packet and could determine an outgoing link on which toforward the management packet. Continuing the above example of the pathinformation specifying the listing of “3, 2”, the management packetcomponent 520 ₂ could access the listing with the index position of “1”(i.e., based on the counter value within the management packetincremented from “0” to “1” by the management packet component 520 ₁)and could determine that the outgoing link with link ID “2” should beused. The management packet component 520 ₂ could then increment thecounter value within the packet from “1” to “2”, and could forward themanagement packet to the sub-switch 254 ₂, over the link for theswitch-to-switch communications network with link ID “2”.

Upon receiving the data packet, the management packet component 520 ₃could determine that the sub-switch 254 ₂ is the destination switchmodule for the packet. For example, the management packet component 520₃ could access the listing of link IDs within the packet using theupdated counter value within the packet of “2” as an index, and coulddetermine that no link ID exists at this index position, indicating thatthe sub-switch 254 ₂ is the destination switch module for this packet.Based on this determination, the management packet component 520 ₃ couldcopy the set of load/store operations within the packet into theexecution buffer 515 ₃.

Generally, the DRLS component 510 ₃ monitors the contents of theexecution buffer 515 ₃ to determine when any load/store operations arecopied into the execution buffer 515 ₃. Upon detecting that theexecution buffer 515 ₃ contains one or more load/store operations, theDRLS component 510 ₃ could automatically execute the load/storeoperations. For instance, the DRLS component 510 ₃ could execute theload/store operations sequentially in the order in which they are placedinto the execution buffer 515 ₃. Thus, once the management packetcomponent 520 ₃ copies the set of load/store operations within thepacket into the execution buffer 515 ₃, the DRLS component 510 ₃ coulddetect the load/store operations within the execution buffer 515 ₃ andcould automatically execute these load/store operations.

Once all of the load/store operations within the packet have beenexecuted, the management packet component 520 ₃ could transmit anacknowledge message back to the source module from which the managementpacket was received (i.e., the IOMC 257 in this example). Generally, theacknowledgement message contains the return link information from thecorresponding management packet. That is, the acknowledgement messagecontains information specifying the link ID of the link on which themanagement packet was received at each intermediary switch module, asthe packet was transmitted from the source module to the destinationmodule. In one embodiment, the management packet component 520 ₃ isconfigured to transmit a predefined acknowledgement message to thesource module. In a particular embodiment, the management packetcomponent 520 ₃ is configured to transmit the management packet itselfback to the source module, as an indication that the management packetwas received and successfully processed by the destination module (i.e.,the sub-switch 254 ₂ in this example).

Generally, the acknowledgement message is transmitted back to the sourcemodule using the return path information within the management packet.That is, as each intermediary switch module (e.g., the sub-switch 254 ₁and the spine switch module 410, in this example) recorded in themanagement packet the respective link ID on which the management packetwas received as the packet was transmitted from the source module to thedestination module, these incoming links can be used as outgoing linkswhen sending the acknowledgement message from the destination module tothe source module. Thus, the spine switch module 410 could receive theacknowledgement message, and the management packet component 520 ₂ couldaccess the return link information within the message to determine thelink on which the spine switch module 410 the original management packetwas received on. Thus, in this example, the management packet component520 ₂ could determine that the management packet was received over thelink connecting the spine switch module 410 with the sub-switch 254 ₁,and could forward the acknowledgement message to the sub-switch 254 ₁over the determined link. Likewise, the management packet component 520₁ could inspect the return link information within the packet and coulddetermine that the management packet was originally received over thelink connecting the sub-switch 254 ₁ with the IOMC 257. Accordingly, themanagement packet component 520 ₁ could forward the acknowledgementmessage to the IOMC 257 over the determined link. As discussed above, inone embodiment, the management packet component 520 ₁ could notify theIOMC 257 of the received acknowledgement message using PCIe operationsand/or Ethernet communications. More generally, it is broadlycontemplated that the management packet component 520 ₁ may use anynumber of different techniques to notify the IOMC 257 of theacknowledgement message, consistent with the present disclosure.

Once the acknowledgement message reaches the IOMC 257, the data packetcontrol component 540 could determine that the management packet wasreceived by the destination switch module (i.e., the sub-switch 254 ₂,in this example) and that the load/store operations were executed.Advantageously, embodiments enable a single entity within a distributednetwork switch (e.g., the IOMC 257) to control the actions of otherswitch modules within the distributed switch, and to do so even when theEthernet communication links within the distributed switch areunavailable (e.g., before they are configured and initialized). That is,because embodiments utilize a second communications network between thenodes of the distributed switch, embodiments need not rely on theEthernet communication links in order to transmit packets between theswitch modules of the distributed switch. This may be particularlyadvantageous, for example, when embodiments are used to configured theEthernet communication links of the various switch modules within thedistributed switch.

As discussed above, in one embodiment, the controller is configured todirectly insert the management packet into a buffer on the first switchmodule associated with the first hop of the packet using PCIecommunications. For example, the IOMC 257 could check to ensure that anIOMC Send Buffer within the DRLS component 510 on the sub-switch module254 ₁ is not in use. To do so, the IOMC 257 could use PCIe operations toaccess a chip register ring in order to read an IOMC Send Buffer Statusregister within the DRLS component 510. Upon detecting that the IOMCSend Buffer is not in use (e.g., from a previous operation), the IOMCcould send PCIe operations configured to load the IOMC Send Buffer witha management packet.

In response, the DRLS component 510 could detect a write to an IOMCAction register and could queue the management packet for processing.The DRLS component 510 could then check to ensure than an output bufferfor the outgoing link of the sub-switch module 254 ₁ specified withinthe management packet is not busy. For example, the DRLS component 510could check a Buffer Busy Status register associated with the outgoinglink. The DRLS component 510 could then move the management packet fromits own internal IOMC Send Buffer to the execution buffer. Upondetermining that the sub-switch module 254 ₁ is not the destination ofthe packet, the DRLS component 510 could copy the management packet intoan ILS Send Buffer associated with the outgoing link specified in theheader portion of the management packet. The DRLS component 510 couldset a bit corresponding to the output link in a local Buffer Busy Statusregister, and could then push the packet to the ILS Send Buffer for theoutgoing link via a register ring on the switch module 254 ₁. As aresult, the packet could then be written to the next switch elementalong the path by an iLink communications component associated with theILS Send Buffer. When the iLink communications component has finishedusing the ILS Send Buffer, it could clear the corresponding bit in theDRLS Buffer Busy Status register, so that the DRLS component 510 is freeto process another request having the same output link.

Likewise, when the acknowledgement message is received at the sub-switchmodule 254 ₁, an ILR component on the switch module 254 ₁ could detectthe inbound response. The ILR component could then determine that theacknowledgement message has reached its destination (e.g., based uponthe hop counter value within the message being decremented back to 0, inan embodiment where the hop counter value is decremented at each hopalong the path). In response, the ILR component could indicate that ithas received a packet to the DRLS component 510. For example, the ILRcomponent could indicate this by writing an ILR Action register withinthe DRLS component 510 with the inbound link and the destination link(e.g., xFF, which in one embodiment is special encode for the IOMC). TheDRLS component 510 could detect the write to the ILR Action registerand, in response, could queue the acknowledgement message (e.g.,including the input and output link IDs) in a queue for DRLS operations.In one embodiment, before selecting the queued request, the DRLScomponent 510 first checks to ensure that an IOMC Receive Buffer is notBusy (from a previous response not yet serviced by IOMC). For example,the DRLS component 510 could check a local Buffer Busy Status registerwithin the DRLS component 510.

At some point, the DRLS component 510 processes queued request. Forinstance, the DRLS component 510 could pull the packet over a registerring by issuing register reads to the ILR Receive buffer correspondingto the link that queued the request (i.e., the link on which the requestwas received). The DRLS component 510 could then determine that thedestination (e.g., xFF) corresponds to the IOMC 257, and could move thepacket contents directly to an internal IOMC Receive Buffer. The DRLScomponent 510 could then set a status bit in a DRLS register. In oneembodiment, the IOMC 257 is anticipating a response/acknowledge to thetransmitted management packet, and as a result is polling the registerusing PCIe operations (e.g., which allow it access to the chip registerring on the switch module 2540. Upon detecting the status bit, the IOMC257 could determine that an acknowledgement packet has been received andcould use PCIe operations to read the IOMC Receive Buffer contents(i.e., the buffer on the sub-switch 254 ₁ containing the acknowledgementmessage). The IOMC 257 could then clear the IOMC Receive Buffer Busystatus bit, allowing the DRLS component 510 to process another responsedestined for the IOMC 257.

As discussed above, a DRLS component 510 is generally configured tomonitor the execution buffer 610 and, upon detecting load/storeoperations are contained within the buffer 610, to execute theload/store operations. The DRLS component 510 may monitor the contentsof the execution buffer 610 in a variety of ways. For instance, the DRLScomponent 510 could employ a master sequencer and a number ofsub-sequences to carry out this functionality, e.g., a master sequencer,a transfer sub-sequencer and a processing sub-sequencer. As an example,the master sequencer could generally maintain an idle state until one ofthe predefined events occurs. Upon detecting an occurrence of an event,the master sequencer could leave the idle state and could advance to atransfer state. In response, the transfer sub-sequencer could leave itsidle state and could transfer a pre-defined sequence of load/storeoperations into the execution buffer. At this point, the transfersub-sequence could return to its idle state, and the master sequencercould advance to a processing state. Accordingly, the processingsub-sequencer could execute the contents of the execution buffer (i.e.,the predefined sequence of load/store operations) and, once completed,could return to its idle state. Finally, the master sequencer couldreturn to its idle state, until the next event is detected.

In one embodiment, the DRLS component 510 is configured to selectivelymodify the set of predefined load/store operations while copying theoperations into the execution buffer. For instance, the DRLS component510 could be configured to selectively replace certain operations withinthe set of load/store operations with a NOP operation, in order toprevent these certain operations from being executed. For example,assume that the set of predefined load/store operations are designed todisable all of the ports on a switch module by writing a value of “0”(e.g., using an AND load/store operation) to the respectiveconfiguration register associated with each of the ports. However,further assume that it is known (e.g., to a network administrator) thatcertain registers within a particular switch module are defective (e.g.,as a result of the manufacturing process). In such an embodiment, theDRLS component 510 could be configured to selectively substitute NOPcommands in place of any load/store operations associated with thesedefective registers, in order to avoid executing any load/storeoperations involving these defective registers. Advantageously, doing soallows the predefined sequence of load/store operations to bedynamically updated, based upon the current configuration of the switchmodule.

FIG. 6 illustrates a packet containing route data and a set ofload/store operations, according to one embodiment described herein. Asshown, the packet 600 includes a header portion 610 and a payloadportion 620. The header portion 610 contains destination route data 615,which specifies a route from a source module to a destination module,and source route data 620, which specifies a route from the destinationmodule to the source module. In one embodiment, the destination routedata 615 and/or source route data 620 include a listing of linkidentifiers, with each link identifier corresponding to a respectiveswitch module within the distributed switch. As discussed above, thesource module could insert the destination route data 615 into thepacket 600 when the packet 600 is created. The source route data 620could be created as the packet is transmitted from the source module tothe destination module, with each intermediary switch module updatingthe source route data 620 based on a link identifier of the link of therespective intermediary switch module on which the packet was received.

The load/store operations 635 generally specify register operations forloading and/or storing values on a switch module. For example, a loadoperation could specify a value to be loaded into at least one registerof a switch module. As another example, a store operation could specifya value from at least one register of a switch module to be stored tomemory. In one embodiment, the load/store operations 635 are predefined.In a particular embodiment, the load/store operations 635 aredynamically determined when the packet 600 is created.

Generally, the load/store operations relate to loading values into atleast one of the registers (i.e., a load operation) and/or storing avalue from at least one of the registers in a memory of the switchmodule (i.e., a store operation). However, it is broadly contemplatedthat load/store operations, as used herein, can include more than simpleload and store register operations, and more generally may include anyoperations related to loading, storing and/or modifying values withinregisters. For example, the load/store operations could include, withoutlimitation, a load operation (e.g., that reads a 64 bit value from aregister), a store operation (e.g., the writes a 64 bit value to aregister), an AND operation (e.g., that reads a 64 bit value from aregister, applies a 64 bit AND mask to zero out any combination of bits,and stores the updated 64 bit value back to the same register), an ORoperation (e.g., the reads a 64 bit value from a register, applies a 64bit OR mask to set any combination of bits to “1”, and stores theupdated 64 bit value back to the same register), a COMPARE/SWAPoperation (e.g., that reads a 64 bit value, compares the value to acommand-supplied COMPARE value, and stores a command-supplied SWAP valueback to the same register if the comparison is TRUE), and an ANDORoperation (e.g., that reads a 64 bit value from a register, applies anAND mask to set any combination of bits to “0”, applies an OR mask toset any combination of bits to “1”, and stores the resulting 64 bitvalue back to the same register). Still other commands may include,without limitation, a sequential load operation (e.g., a load operationthat targets multiple registers having sequential addresses), asequential store operation, a sequential AND operation, a sequential ORoperation, a sequential COMPARE/SWAP operation, and a sequential AND/ORoperation. However, all of the above examples are provided forillustrative purposes only, and one of ordinary skill in the art willquickly recognize that examples of load/store operations can includethese and many other operations, consistent with the present disclosure.

Generally, the set of load/store operations can be adapted to perform aparticular operation(s) on a switch module. For example, a controller(e.g., the IOMC 257) could generate a packet containing a set ofload/store operations that are configured to, when executed, configureand initialize the Ethernet communication links on a particular switchmodule within a distributed switch. For instance, the controller couldtransmit such a packet for each switch module within the distributedswitch, in order to initialize Ethernet communications for all of theswitch modules within the distributed switch. Moreover, by using aseparate protocol (i.e., separate from OSI-model communications) totransmit the packet to each of the switch modules over theswitch-to-switch links, embodiments can transmit load/store operationsto a remote node for execution, regardless of the status of OSI-modelEthernet communications within the distributed switch.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow of a packet through a series of switchmodules, according to one embodiment described herein. As shown, thesystem 700 includes switch modules 710, 720 and 740. For purposes ofthis example, assume that the switch module 710 is the source modulethat creates the management packet and the switch module 740 is thedestination module receiving the packet and executing the load/storeoperations contained therein. In one embodiment, the management packetcould originate on a separate module (e.g., the IOMC 257) and could beinserted into the switch module 710 (e.g., using PCIe operations). Asdiscussed above, the management packet created by the source modulegenerally contains path information specifying the path from the sourcemodule to the destination module. For example, the path informationcould include a listing of ports to use at switch modules along theroute from the source module to the destination module. For example, inthis example, since the switch module 720 is coupled to the destinationswitch module 740 at the port 730 having a port identifier of “4”, thepath information in the packet could specify the value “4”. In oneembodiment, the path information also includes an identifier for theport connecting the source module with the first intermediary switchmodule along the path. Thus, since the source switch module 710 iscoupled to the switch module 720 at the port 715 having a portidentifier of “3”, the path information could specify the listing of“3,4”, indicating that the packet should be transmitted using the port“3” at the source module and port “4” on the switch module 720, afterthe packet's first hop.

Additionally, as discussed above, the intermediary switch module(s)along the path from the source module to the destination module couldupdate source route data within the packet, as the packet passes throughthe intermediary switch module(s). Thus, in this example, when theswitch module 720 receives the packet from the switch module 710 on theport 725 having a port identifier of “2”, logic on the switch module 720(e.g., a management packet component 520) could insert the value of “2”into a listing of source ports within the packet. The switch module 720could then forward the packet on to the switch module 740, using thepath information specified within the packet.

Upon receiving the packet at the port 735 having a port identifier of“5”, logic on the switch module 740 could copy the load/store operationswithin the packet into an execution buffer. A DRLS component 510 on theswitch module 740 could then detect the load/store operations within theexecution buffer and, responsive to the detection, could execute theload/store operations.

FIG. 8 illustrates a return path of a packet through a series of switchmodules, according to one embodiment described herein. As shown, thesystem 800 includes the switch modules 710, 720 and 740. Here, once theswitch module 740 has finished executing the load/store operationswithin the management packet, the packet is transmitted across the link735 having an identifier of “5”. Generally, the switch module 740 isconfigured to transmit the management packet (or more generally, anyacknowledgement message) using the port on which the switch module 740initially received the management packet. The switch module 720 thenreceives the acknowledgement message and determines that the packetshould be forwarded to the switch module 710 using the port 725 havingthe identifier of “2”. Additionally, the switch module 720 modifies ahop counter value within the management packet (e.g., by decrementingthe hop counter value). The switch module 720 then forwards the modifiedpacket to the switch module 710, using the port 725. The switch module710 then receives the packet on port 715. In the event the switch module710 is the destination for the packet, the switch module 710 couldprocess the received acknowledgement message. As discussed above, in oneembodiment the switch module 710 is configured to notify the IOMC 257that the acknowledgement message has been received, and the IOMC 257 isthen configured to retrieve the acknowledgement message using PCIeoperations.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for generating amanagement packet, according to one embodiment described herein. Asshown, the method 900 begins at block 910, where a source module (e.g.,a control module such as IOMC 257) receives a request to transmit amanagement packet to a destination node. In one embodiment, the requestidentifies a set of load/store operations to be transmitted to thedestination node. The source module then retrieves path data for thespecified destination node (block 915). As discussed above, the pathdata could include an ordered listing of link IDs, where each link ID inthe listing corresponds to a respective hop along the path from thesource switch module to the destination switch module. In oneembodiment, the path data may be expressed using a comma delimitedstring of link IDs. However, such examples are provided withoutlimitation and for illustrative purposes only. Moreover, it is broadlycontemplated that any format capable of describing the path from thesource switch module to the destination switch module may be used,consistent with the functionality described herein.

Logic on the source module could then create a data packet containingthe retrieved path data and a set of predefined load/store operations.For example, assuming that the IOMC 257 is the source module, the datapacket control component 540 could receive a request containing anidentifier corresponding to a particular set of predefined load/storeoperations (e.g., an identification number used to access a mapcontaining distinct sets of predefined load/store operations) and couldretrieve the corresponding set of load/store operations for theidentifier. The retrieved load/store operations could then be includedin the generated packet, along with the retrieved path information.

Additionally, as discussed above, the generated packet may include a hopcounter value. Generally, the hop counter value is configured to beincremented at each hop along the path, and may be used by the variousswitch modules along the path to determine which switch-to-switch linkID within the listing of link IDs should be used by each of the switchmodules along the path. For instance, the hop counter value could beused as an index into the listing of link IDs. The source switch modulethen transmits the generated packet to a next node, based on the pathdata (block 920), and the method 900 ends.

For example, a first switch module along the path could generate apacket with a hop counter value of “1” and could determine that thepacket should be transmitted on the switch-to-switch link on the firstswitch having a link ID corresponding to the first link ID within thepacket. The first switch module could then increment the hop countervalue to “2” and could transmit the packet across the determined link. Asecond switch module could then receive the packet, access the secondlink ID within the listing (i.e., based on the hop counter value of“2”), increment the hop counter value to “3”, and forward the packetacross the second switch module's switch-to-switch link corresponding tothe second link ID within the listing. This process could continue,until the packet reaches the destination node within the distributedswitch.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for transmitting amanagement packet to a destination node, according to one embodimentdescribed herein. As shown, the method 1000 begins at block 1010, wherea management packet component 520 receives the management packet at acurrent switch module. The management packet component 520 thendetermines whether the current switch module is the destination for thereceived packet (block 1015). For example, the management packetcomponent 520 could use a hop counter value within the packet as anindex into the listing of link IDs within the packet, and if doing soreturns a link ID within the listing, the management packet component520 could determine it is not the destination of the packet. That is,since each link ID within the listing of link IDs corresponds to adifferent hop along the path from the source switch module to thedestination switch module, the management packet component 520 coulddetermine that the path is not yet complete, and as such, the currentswitch module is not the destination for the packet.

In such a case, the management packet component 520 could retrieve thepath data from the packet (block 1020) and could determine aswitch-to-switch link of the current switch module on which to forwardthe packet (block 1025). For example, the management packet component520 could determine that the switch-to-switch link corresponding to theretrieved link ID from the listing of link IDs should be used to forwardthe packet. Additionally, the management packet component 520 insertsreturn path data into the data packet (block 1030). In one embodiment,the return path data comprises an ordered listing of link IDs, that iscreated as the packet travels from the source switch module to thedestination switch module. In such an embodiment, the management packetcomponent 520 could insert a link ID corresponding to theswitch-to-switch link of the current switch module on which the datapacket was received. Additionally, the management packet component 520could The management packet component 520 then transmits the data packetacross the switch-to-switch link of the current switch module,corresponding to the retrieved link ID from the listing of link IDs(block 1040), and the method 1000 returns to block 1015, where the nextswitch module along the path processes the data packet.

If, at block 1015, the management packet component 520 (e.g., on thecurrent switch module or on the next switch module, after block 1040 hascompleted) determines that the hop counter value, when used as an indexinto the listing of link IDs, does not return a value (i.e., when thehop counter value references a position greater than the size of thelisting), then the management packet component 520 could determine thatthe current switch module is the destination for the packet. Themanagement packet component 520 could then copy the set of predefinedload/store operations within the payload of the packet, into anexecution buffer 515 on the current switch module. A DRLS component 510could then detect the operations within the execution buffer 515 andcould automatically execute the set of predefined load/store operationson the current switch module (block 1045).

Once the operations have been executed, the management packet component520 could transmit the packet across the switch-to-switch link of thecurrent switch module on which the packet was originally received (block1050), and the method 1000 ends. As discussed above, althoughembodiments transmit data packets (or, more generally, network messages)across switch-to-switch links, embodiments may utilize a communicationsprotocol that is separate and distinct from OSI-model communications.Advantageously, doing so enables the management packet component 520 totransmit data packets through the distributed switch, regardless ofwhether the logic to manage OSI-model communications (e.g., layer 2switch traffic) is operational.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for transmitting amanagement packet to a source node, according to one embodimentdescribed herein. In this example, assume that the destination switchmodule has already received the management packet, executed theload/store operations contained in the management packet (block 1045)and has transmitted the management packet to the previous switch module(block 1050) for transmission back to the source switch module. Asshown, the method 1100 begins at block 1110, where the management packetcomponent 520 (i.e., at the previous switch module) receives themanagement packet being transmitted to a source switch module.

The management packet component 520 then determines whether the currentswitch module is the source switch module where the packet originated(block 1115). If not, the management packet component 520 transmits themanagement packet to a next switch module in the path, based on thereturn data in the header of the management packet (block 1120), and themethod returns to block 1115 for the next switch module in the path.That is, the management packet component 520 could access the returnpath information (i.e., the path information inserted into themanagement packet at block 1030) in the packet and could determine anEthernet link of the current switch module on which to transmit thepacket. As an example, the return path data could include a listing ofswitch-to-switch link identifiers, and the management packet component520 could access a return hop counter value within the packet and coulduse this hop counter value (e.g., as an index) to determine which of theswitch-to-switch link identifiers in the listing should be used at thecurrent switch module.

Generally, the packet may be passed through the distributed switch untilone of the switch modules determines that it is the switch module thatthe packet is destined for. For example, return to the example of system500, blocks 1115 and 1120 could be repeated until the packet reaches theIOMC 257. At this point, the data packet control component 540 coulddetermine that the receipt of the management packet serves as anacknowledgement that the load/store operations were successfullyexecuted at the destination switch module (block 1125), and the method1100 ends.

In the preceding, reference is made to embodiments of the invention.However, it should be understood that the invention is not limited tospecific described embodiments. Instead, any combination of thefollowing features and elements, whether related to differentembodiments or not, is contemplated to implement and practice theinvention. Furthermore, although embodiments of the invention mayachieve advantages over other possible solutions and/or over the priorart, whether or not a particular advantage is achieved by a givenembodiment is not limiting of the invention. Thus, the precedingaspects, features, embodiments and advantages are merely illustrativeand are not considered elements or limitations of the appended claimsexcept where explicitly recited in a claim(s). Likewise, reference to“the invention” shall not be construed as a generalization of anyinventive subject matter disclosed herein and shall not be considered tobe an element or limitation of the appended claims except whereexplicitly recited in a claim(s).

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described above with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

Embodiments of the invention may be provided to end users through acloud computing infrastructure. Cloud computing generally refers to theprovision of scalable computing resources as a service over a network.More formally, cloud computing may be defined as a computing capabilitythat provides an abstraction between the computing resource and itsunderlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks),enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool ofconfigurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned andreleased with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.Thus, cloud computing allows a user to access virtual computingresources (e.g., storage, data, applications, and even completevirtualized computing systems) in “the cloud,” without regard for theunderlying physical systems (or locations of those systems) used toprovide the computing resources.

Typically, cloud computing resources are provided to a user on apay-per-use basis, where users are charged only for the computingresources actually used (e.g. an amount of storage space consumed by auser or a number of virtualized systems instantiated by the user). Auser can access any of the resources that reside in the cloud at anytime, and from anywhere across the Internet. In context of the presentinvention, a user may access applications or related data available inthe cloud being run or stored on the servers. For example, anapplication could execute on a server implementing the virtual switch inthe cloud. Doing so allows a user to access this information from anycomputing system attached to a network connected to the cloud (e.g., theInternet).

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention,other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised withoutdeparting from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof isdetermined by the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of transmitting a packet from a sourceswitch module to a destination switch module, comprising: retrievingpath information specifying a route to the destination switch module;creating a packet that includes (i) at least a portion of the pathinformation and (ii) a set of load/store operations to be executed bythe destination switch module; transmitting the packet to a first switchmodule using a first port, the first port specified in the retrievedpath information, wherein the first switch module is configured totransmit the packet based on the at least a portion of the pathinformation in the packet, and wherein the destination switch module isconfigured, upon receiving the packet, to copy the set of load/storeoperations into an execution buffer to be automatically executed; andreceiving, from the destination switch module, an acknowledgementmessage comprising the packet, indicating that the set of load/storeoperations have been executed successfully.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the path information comprises an ordered listing ofswitch-to-switch link identifiers, and wherein each of theswitch-to-switch link identifiers within the ordered listing ofswitch-to-switch link identifiers corresponds to a respective hop alongthe path from the source switch module to the destination switch module.3. The method of claim 2, wherein the packet further includes a hopcounter value, configured to be incremented at each hop along the pathfrom the source switch module to the destination switch module.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, further comprising: determining the first port byselecting one of the switch-to-switch link identifiers from the orderedlisting of link identifiers, using the hop counter value as an index. 5.The method of claim 4, further comprising: incrementing the hop countervalue within the packet, before transmitting the packet to the secondswitch module.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet istransmitted over an Ethernet communications link, and wherein the packetdoes not conform to an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.